Change is coming to PvP gear in the relatively near future, and we wanted to provide a not-so-brief update on the improvements we’re planning, while pulling the curtain aside a bit so you can see the thought processes that motivated the coming changes. We also thought this would also be a great time to get the World of Warcraft PvP community involved in the discussion.

The Challenges
There are a few main issues that we’re working to address within the next couple of patches:

Early Advantage
Currently, it’s very common for players that have a head start at the start of the season to earn the best gear quickly and gain a dominating position on the ladder with a very high Match Making Rating (MMR). It’s then pretty common for those players to only participate on the ladder in a minimal way before reaping their rewards at the very end of the season. That’s not particularly good for competition, and we don’t think that it’s a very fun way for a competitive ladder to work. We would like to see the ladder remain active, and for high ranking players to earn their positions throughout the season, instead of just blitzing early and camping a spot above a certain threshold.

Mid-season Start
Players getting into PvP mid-season face a very significant challenge to gear up and become competitive because players that started earlier in the season are so far ahead in terms of gear. We want to make it more reasonable for a player to join in on organized PvP mid-season, while still rewarding the commitment of players that have remained invested in PvP throughout the season.

Rating Requirements
The current rating requirements on PvP gear create an artificially sharp division between players over 2200 rating and those below that rating threshold, which is unduly difficult to cross. We’d prefer that teams progress up the ladder on a curve against gradually more difficult opponents, instead of running into a wall at a certain rating.

Gear Advantage
Over time, the gap in power between Honor and Conquest PvP items has widened. This happened, in part, because it’s necessary for us to preserve the balance in power between PvP and PvE gear so that one doesn’t become the most obvious path to victory for the other. Right now, there are four tiers of PvE items, but only two tiers of PvP items. To keep Honor items from being the best choice for entry into PvE, they needed to have a lower item level than equivalent Raid Finder items. At the same time, Conquest gear still needs to be better for PvP than Heroic raid items, which puts it way over on the opposite end of the power scale from its Honor counterpart. While there are items that bridge the gap between Raid Finder and Heroic Raid loot, there really haven’t been any PvP items to bridge the gap between Honor and Conquest gear. We plan to solve that problem by introducing new tiers of PvP items, changing which currencies it takes to buy items and when, and by making PvP weapons more readily available in general.

Flexibility
While the item upgrade system has the benefit of allowing players that have “finished” their PvP set to continue to progress their character’s power, because there’s built-in pressure to continue upgrading their main set, it also means that players don’t always feel comfortable spending those points on alternate sets of gear for different specs (though it’s worth mentioning that the upgrade system will be disabled for patch 5.2). We’d like to make it easier for players in this position to experiment with alternate specs and stats.

Moving Forward
Meeting these challenges will mean that some changes are coming to MMR, PvP gear, and how gear is earned and paid for:

Team Rating Inflation
As we’ve mentioned previously, we want to see the ladder rankings decided toward the end of a season, and not a foregone conclusion dictated by what happens at the start. As discussed in the PvP in Mists of Pandaria Dev Watercooler, as of patch 5.2 Team Rating will gradually increase as players participate in PvP over the course of the season. We expect the new system to help ensure that the ladder remains active at all ratings and that the competition stays fierce from start to finish.

Gear Changes
To accomplish the goals of making PvP more accessible and less punishing, gearing more consistent and flexible, and flattening the power curve out over the course of a season, there are some significant changes in the works:

Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear can be purchased for Honor after 27000 Conquest Points are earned for the season. (5.3)

Elite Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear can only be purchased with Conquest Points after 27,000 Conquest Points have been earned for the season. (5.2)

The 2200 rating requirements on gear will be removed in patch 5.2, and when that happens, the only barrier to acquiring top of the line Elite gear will be the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement. While highly rated players will still earn gear more quickly, there won’t be an invisible wall to progression at 2200 rating.

As of patch 5.3, patches that don’t include the start of a new season will offer players the opportunity to purchase Conquest Point weapons without first meeting the seasonal currency requirement for them. We’re relaxing these restrictions because, by the mid-point of the season, the restriction has served its purpose and is no longer necessary. It’s worth noting here that the 27,000 Conquest Points earned requirement must always be met to buy Elite armor and weapons in every season.

In terms of relative power, we’re tuning the item levels, PvP Power, and Resilience on the new set of PvP items so that the difference between Malevolent and Elite Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear is similar to the relationship between this season’s Dreadful and Malevolent Gladiator’s gear. This helps accomplish the goal of smoothing out the power curve by adding a tier in the middle of the PvP gear spectrum. Also, to add choices and flexibility, once the seasonal currency requirement is met, players will have the option to purchase Tyrannical pieces for Honor, which should allow players to more easily experiment with alternate stat loadouts and specs.

Mid-Season Catch Up
Players who are starting their journey into PvP mid-season start significantly behind the gearing curve. While we want to avoid invalidating the effort of players that have competed for the whole season, we agree with the feedback we’ve received that the starting gap is too large, so a new Conquest Point catch-up cap will be implemented using the following formula:

Player A is starting PvP for the first time in week 10 of the season, and hasn’t earned any Conquest Points at all that season. He will have an additional cap of 10,000 points added to his normal weekly rating based cap.

Player B has already earned 5,000 Conquest Points by week 10, so she would have an additional cap of 5,000 points added to her normal weekly rating based cap.

Player C has been playing all season long, and has earned more than 10,000 Conquest Points by week 10. He only has the normal weekly cap to work with (but should already be on their way to being well geared).

If a player “redeems” their catch up cap by earning all those points, then they’ll begin the next week at their normal weekly rating based cap. Should they miss more weeks, then the catch up cap accrues again.

So, to sum up the planned changes for Patch 5.2:

Rating requirements will be removed from PvP gear.

Malevolent Gladiator’s gear, including weapons, will be available for purchase with Honor Points.

A new tier of Conquest Point gear will be added that becomes available once 27000 Conquest Points have been earned for the season.

Team Rating will gradually increase during the season for teams and players that continue to compete in PvP. This system is explained in the Mists of Pandaria PvP Dev Watercooler.

And here are the specific changes that are planned to hit in Patch 5.3:

In patches that don’t include a new season (including patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 27,000 Conquest Points earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement must always be met to purchase Elite items, though.

Once the seasonal currency requirement is met, players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear with Honor Points.

The Conquest Point catch up cap will be introduced.

Conclusions
Overall, we expect that these changes will create a more active and competitive PvP environment, narrow the gear gap between the highest rated players and those still working their way up the ladder, and open the door for more experimentation in terms of class or spec.
We look forward to hearing your opinions and feedback on these upcoming changes!

This is overall a REALLY good way to not make gear the make or break for returning players, while still haveing the incentive of obtaining new Gear once you reach the 27k points. And this basicly solves people sitting at 2200 and then stop playing, it basicly means the season at the end will be REALLY competitive for higher rated players, While STILL makeing it very accessible for returning players.

People who are mad by this, make me happy. Those are usually people that pick on lesser geared ppl, but arent exacly skilled. THIS balances gear overall, WHILE STILL haveing the incentive of titles and mounts for higher rated players, I love it. Looks like it will work out well on live.

Me and my friends are not pvp experts, we don't aim for 2700 rating or whatsoever, however, it was impossible to get the elite weapons because we started the season kinda late and we couldnt break the 1900-2000 barrier, even playing perfectly the elite weapons on the other team made a HUGE difference, I didn't understand why would you give extra pvp power to high rated teams, it was obvious they would play low rating to carry friends/buyers.

and in 5.3, you can upgrade all of it. Nothing changed, people that started late just get more conquest and you no longer need a rating for elite gear, which doesn't really matter since wintraders/pros will get it weeks/months before any other player gets it.

All this is going to do is make PVP players complain that the best PVP gear in the game can be gotten by anyone that just makes sure they cap their conquest. It means there is no gear for people that are good at the game, and any random dood can get the best gear simply by playing PVP.

Even though I don't PVP anymore (rarely, I dislike WoW PVP) even I think it's a pretty dumb idea to remove the high end goal for players to shoot for. There are a lot of players that PVP because they enjoy it and they want to get a high rating, but there are also that bunch of people (some of which are in the other bunch as well) that have that rating as a goal to strive for, so they can get new, powerful gear. Now, just like EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS GAME, it's a time gated reward. You can cap your conquest for the week, but no matter how much you play, you will not be getting that gear until you play for the next however many weeks.

This also doesn't really change the problem that people that have elite gear have a powerful advantage over the people that don't have it. Previously this simply meant that the 2200+ rating players would have it, but now you're going to be competing against people that have it below that rating.. making it even more difficult to get up in rating until you finish getting past the time gates to get it yourself. This solution fulfills Blizzard's goals more than anyone else; you are forced to play the game EVERY SINGLE WEEK from patch start if you want to stay relevant in the PVP scene. All it does is apply their current PVE mentality (dailies, etc) to PVP.

IN ADDITION, PVE players now have a very good reason to PVP (even simply for the sake of capping conquest) due to the ridiculously high item level gear they will be able to easily obtain regardless of their skill level. This is because, for some reason in this expansion, PVP gear is just as good for PVE as PVE gear is. All they have to do is enter PVP and roll their face across the keyboard and they'll eventually be "elite."

But, Blizzard thinks this game is an RPG and there should always be a system in which you get better equipment. They think that is a fundamental feature of the game that is enjoyable and should exist.

They are not wrong, but this is not the right solution.

Yep it is, it may not be the 100% fix, but it is completely better than what we have now

Also, ahahahahahahahahaha at all the elitis crying that they wont stomp ppl just because they have better gear, now they actually may have to use a bit of skill hahahaha. Like the guy above me for example XD

I know a lot of players will be upset by this because of the mentality of "rewards" that PvP is on WoW and others MMO's, but I beg you to remember how PvP works on other game styles, such BF, CoD and many more: there is upgrades that requires you to play and get high ranks, but once everyone is there, its when the real thing matters: skills.

Doesn't matter if the guy has the same gear than you, if you are good you will still win. It will only be more difficult (I call it challenge) and sometimes close fights (wayyyy more fun)

And you will still be able to faceroll people on bad gear on world pvp.

Just remember that, rewards are one part of the game, they should not be your primary motivation to play a game.

But, Blizzard thinks this game is an RPG and there should always be a system in which you get better equipment. They think that is a fundamental feature of the game that is enjoyable and should exist.

They are not wrong, but this is not the right solution.

I agree with them. This has been the basis for the core of WoW's design forever. The only people that are in favor of implementing that are those that think they would suddenly win more often with equal gear. Those people are likely wrong. They would just move on to class balance being the reason they lose.

Seriously, if you like that system better people, go play GW2. Don't make this whole game change just to suit you. You might want to find a game that already suits you, it will make you much happier.

Gear shouldn't be a deciding factor in PvP, ever. PvP has become so gear-based since the end of Wrath that it just isn't fun to waste time doing PvP anymore. The small minority that actually enjoyed the slave-labor grindfest that was World of Warcraft PvP are delusional. PvP should be about competition, the drive to improve tactics and SKILL as a player, not "my gear is better than yours, autowin."

I still feel like this is too little and too late. Those that enjoy competition and competitive play will lust for mores changes like this. Those that enjoy a pathetic circlejerk used only to make themselves feel better about their time dumped into the game will cry.

why are you guys bitching about it for being more casual? I love the fact the game is getting more accessable that just means more things to do. Sorry but blizzard cant tune themselves to the idiots that can spend 12 hours a day on the game pvping thinking they are gods.